I agree.
There are some of us (me included,) who think that #overshoot already happened a long time ago. Still, we don't have a choice but to try, even against the odds.
@HistoPol@TheGuardian totally agree about having gone past the critical tipping point and what we do now will determine how long before things get really scary!
...place #emissions cuts pledged by developing countries on condition of receiving financial and technical support 👉would cut the temperature rise to 2.5C👈, still a catastrophic scenario.
👉To get on track for the internationally agreed target of 1.5C👈, 22bn tonnes of #CO2 must be cut from the currently projected total in 2030, the report said. 👉That is 42% of global #emissions and equivalent to the output of the world’s five worst #polluters today: #China,...
@HistoPol@TheGuardian#ClimateEmergency "We know it is still possible to make the 1.5 degree limit a reality. It requires tearing out the poisoned root of the climate crisis: fossil fuels.”
@HistoPol@TheGuardian “Treaties and contracts that favour fossil fuel investors are holding back the green energy transition, even though we know most fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground if we are to prevent catastrophic heating,” Mitchell said. “The [treaties] must be reformed if we want to cut emissions and keep as much of Earth as possible habitable for our descendants.”
A couple of days ago, @breadandcircuses wrote an article about #degrowth, in which he correctly describes how 👉the global economic system must be radically altered ("transitioned away from #capitalism👈," he calls it.)
On top of this, however, this transition must include an agricultural revolution that embraces extensive use of #agrivoltaics + #WaruWaru for a 2nd #GreenRevolution...
...You are asking yourself, "how likely is it that all of this is going to happen?
Honestly? Unlikely.
But as the #HumanRace is fighting for its survival (at least 2-3 billion of its specimen, some may survive,) we all don't have a choice but to try.
#Musk's #longtermist vision of humanity's future in space does clearly not include these billions. Besides, it isn't working.
So, we only have got one planet and need to get our collective act together.
@HistoPol I think the biggest problem with your composition is the nihilism it sets up.
Like, we can’t afford more wars? Well that’s a shame, because there will absolutely be more wars. And given that absolute reality I guess we might as well just all give up.
That’s the problem with setting the argument at that level. It leads to impossible solutions and so it becomes a non-starter.
If it’s realistic, then we might as well ignore it because we’ve already failed. If it’s hyperbole then we might as well ignore it because it’s hyperbole.
Neither option is very compelling, and that’s a large reason why so many don’t buy in.
I sincerely hope, we as a society do not fall into collective nihilism.
What I am thinking about is that, we, as people, who care about the future, do not only need to paint the bleak outlook, if nothing changes, but also the positive alternatives.
A world with degrowth can be a better and more livable one than the one today.
That's why I love the #solarpunk movement so much: Because it presents an alternative vision of the future.
Humanity must jump out of the cauldron. In order for this to happen, the heat must be turned up quickly. People must become very much aware of the danger they are in.
Many if not most seem still to be thinking, "ok, yes, but it is not going to happen in my lifetime.
We need to tell them:
Wake up!
It has already started. And unless you are going to die in this decade, you will experience it.
Yes, the #overshoot theory entails that the human race has already failed.
The question is, however, in how many decades we can still achieve a climate similar to the one we have been enjoying in the past decades again?
Life is probabilities and statistics. If you are on a life boat, your chances of survival might be just 5%. You still fight.
On the other hand, one passenger on the boat might need sacrifice himself for the...
others to survive (e.g. to have enough water.)
Not seeing these probabilities means that all will perish.
Let's think out of the box for a moment.
And, yes, we will get more wars.
Scenario 1:
Yesterday, we had a discussion where we could envision a big fleet of EU warships patrolling the #Mediterranean firing on any boats with migrants which will come like the waves of Mongols against the Great Wall of ancient China.
...#MAGA#US president might even expose the southern US border to atomic radiation on purpose, converting it into a death zone to prevend millions of migrants from crossing the border. A nightmare scenario? Of course!
We've read the corresponding #SciFi novels, Nowadays, they are not so far-fetched anymore, aren't they?
... you are fighting for your life, and there is a small chance for your survival, you will usually still fight, regardless of the odds (some will not, but that is their choice.)
Not knowing of the severity of the predicament might make you exclude the very hard choices that might be necessary for your survival.
Let's take one example:
If more voters became aware of the drastic measures needed, implementing a #WealthTax that abolished...
...the billionaires and reallocated these funds for funding the transition to a "#degrowth" economic system / #CircularEconomy (#Circularity) would still be possible in the present-day democracies.
Presently, however, most of voters suffer from the frog-in-a-warm-water-bath perception problem: they will not see the danger until it is too late.
IMO, the heat must be turned up, politically speaking, to get the required drastic measures passed.
This is why I strongly support #AntónioGuterres drastic form of communication yesterday regarding climate change. Or articles like the one at the beginning of this thread by #TheGuardian. More of this!
We need grassroots actions and demonstrations in the streets the way the #French do it.--Often for the wrong reasons (e.g. a minimal raise of the retirement age that is still far below that of other comparable...
...countries, e.g. Germany) but this can be remmedied once people understand that their survival as a society is at stake.
At least I hope that this will be the case and that we as a species will not be as dumb (or dumber) than the #cyanobacteria that caused the #GreatOxidationEvent. *
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